Friday, March 6, 2015

I decided that I just COULD NOT put away my Beautiful Butterflies stamps from Papertrey Ink.

I made the bright rainbow ones HERE, and I wondered what would happen with a tighter color scheme.

I looked at my ink stash, and saw that I had several varieties of purple at my disposal.
SO, I made these--

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So, staying in a tighter color scheme definitely makes for a "quieter riot", but I am pretty happy with the results. Purples seem to live in a more "stately" place anyway, in my mind's eye.

Oh, and the sentiment?

Yeah.

So, the hubby, aka Mr C's Mr., talked me into doing a handwritten sentiment. Good idea; BAD execution. I don't really have the right pens, and I didn't take the time to sketch it in pencil first, so it just looked lousy.

AND, I had stamped four of these cards, and each one looked worse that the one before.

Happily, we all know all about taking desperate measures to save our creations, and I came up with this.

There's a vellum circle under the designer paper one, and the letters are clear embossed to give them some shine.

I think the little veneer butterfly is a nice natural touch, and helps fill some negative space that I was unhappy with.

I am now happy to let these stamps have a rest and cool off for a minute, but I know I'll be back with some more color combinations soon. Happily, butterflies last aallll the way through summer!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Well, sometimes things are definitely worth the wait. And, more importantly, worth their WEIGHT. As in gold. As in, really good stuff.

I have been eyeballing the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set from Papertrey Ink for what seemed like forever. However, crafting funds are allocated SUPER carefully around here, and I shop prices like it's my JOB. Shipping costs seem to kill just about everything I want, most days, even when I think they're pretty reasonable. I just. can't. pull. that. trigger....

Anyway, this set showed up on Ebay, and in a moment of weakness, I decided that a slightly used set was worth saving $2.00 worth of shipping on a new one, and I GOT IT!

SO. GLAD. SO glad.

So, if you checked out the blog on Tuesday (of course you did) you saw my first attempts to use this set. (Go see it if you haven't yet....We'll wait....)

Well, beige is nice and all, but these babies are meant to be in Full Living Color! (If you remember that from TV, welcome to my decade of life...)

I made these--

Oh MAN! Let me tell you about fun! Let me tell you about almost EVERY ink pad I own being pulled out, and the thousands of baby wipes used to clean the stamps as I went along. Giggling and cursing aplenty!

So, when I knew I wanted to do colors, I immediately thought of the sweet and oh-so-talented Laura Bassen, and her expertise in everything rainbow related. That gal; what an inspiration!

Now, when I started, I had no idea these were going to end up like this. I initially chose one red, orange, yellow, green, etc., and stamped a lovely rainbow down the right side of the card base.
This was immediately called "how to make a rainbow boring", or "when enough just is NOT enough."
I was actually considering the circular file, when I decided to expand things a touch.
Then, some more.
Finally, I ended up with at LEAST three shades of each color, and up to five shades in some instances.

The sentiment sort of fell into what seemed the logical places, based on white space.
The final touch was the white dots, which are done with Enamel Accents. I chose white, because I didn't want any color taking away from the butterflies.

I'm not sure whether I like the dots ON the butterflies or AROUND the butterflies better. I think I am deciding not to choose, actually. They both look pretty good.
I am SO happy with the way the colors overlap and give such a translucent look to everything.
I'm SO happy I have these stamps. Butterflies and bright colors never go out of style. That makes me happy, too! Making these gave me so much pleasure.

I'm happy to say these cards went to two crafty friends in lieu of Valentines. I like butterflies much better than hearts, anyway...And, I got to send them some SPRING!

I wonder what these would do with a more limited color family? Hmmm....
Stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Yesterday, I told you about the Pinterest inspiration that led me to make this card.

The inspiration piece looks like this--

and it comes form THIS BLOG. (Give credit where it's due! Thanks, Heike!)

Well, I made another one. That cake just got into my brain....
I made this--

And it HAD to be CHOCOLATE, right? I'm pretty sure you're with me on this.

BALLOONS! How fun! I love these PTI Balloon images. Nothing as wonderful as a big, fat, bright, round balloon. And cake. Don't forget the chocolate cake.
My cake is fussy cut and popped up on the front there, and totally coated with Glossy Accents.
The star is a separate stamp, but it's fussy cut and Glossy Accented, too.

Maybe this view is better--

Oh, and the inside--

The cake is brown, but it's pretty dark and looks black in this photo...
I went outside the lines on those candle flames, thinking they'd look like "glow." I think it worked!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Oh, Laws, the HOURS of my life spent on Pinterest would fill many a mayfly's lifetimes.
I just love looking at pretty things, and I especially love it when pretty things also serve as inspiration. Or, should I say "Pinspiration?"

Anyway, in a moment of need, I went into one of my many boards at the aforementioned Pinterest, and I saw a great photo that fueled my creative fire.

Anyway, what I took away with me into my craft room from this pic was two things--
1. The popped up, yet small central image.
2. The "stuff going on behind.

Now, I didn't take the photo into the craft room with me, because I wasn't really looking to do a copy of it or anything. I just saw a couple of ideas, and ran with them.
I made two cards, one I'll share with you today, and one I'll share tomorrow.

I made this--

So, as you can see, I went bigger and broader with the idea. I started with the butterflies, double and triple time stamped, then added the splatters to make the background. Neutral, yet active, right?
I then moved onto my central element, which was SUPPOSED to be a tiny cluster of flowers, but somehow ended up a big bouquet. Ah, well, I DO love me some flowers...
I added lots of Glossy Accents to the blooms to give them some shine and texture. I particularly like the "nubbly" texture the hyacinths ended up with. I also added just a couple of gems. Because shiny!

The inside--

I have been experimenting with the idea of trying to put the inside sentiment in relatively the same place as the outside sentiment. What do you think? Is this a thing, or am I cuckoo?

Oh yeah. I scored these Papertrey Ink Butterflies (which I am SO in love with) on Ebay. MUCH more to come with these butterflies. Stay tuned.

One more view, so you can see more of the Glossy Accents textures--

So, tomorrow, I'll show you another version, a touch closer to the inspiration piece, but still pretty big and bold.

Anyway, this time I really wanted something bright and sunny; something that said SPRING!

I came up with this--

Coffee grows on plants, right?
And, I DID say bright, right? WOWZA.

I won this Lawn Fawn stamp set during the Fall blog hop, so I really wanted to use it for this one.
I did add some other stamps in with them, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I have no idea where this idea for a coffee cup tree came from, but it came quickly, and I figured it's best not to argue with inspiration sometimes.

I used Distress Inks in several pinks and yellows to give my mugs some color, and used Glossy Accents on the "coffee" to add some shine.
These mugs remind me of the decorated coffee cups my grandmother used to have. I was lucky to find leaf stamps in my stash that matched the die cut leaves almost exactly, and I used the "steam" stamp it create the idea of a flower stamen on each of the mugs.
And white dots, because I do them now. White dots are cool.

Coffee cups as flowers! Get it?
Is this thing on??

And, some blended inks for the inside--(on the sentiment)

Is that tiny heart CUTE?! I'm counting the moments before I lose that thing....

And one last look--

I'm so glad that this Coffee Lovers' Blog Hop has continued. Congrats and thanks to Amy and Chaitali!
I hope PLAN to be back for the next one!